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–+ servings

Italian Stuffed Olives Recipe (Olive Ascolane)

PIATTO RECIPES
Italian Stuffed Olives 'Ascolane' are traditional to the Marche region of Italy! This appetizer is made by stuffing large green olives with a tasty meat filling, coating them with breadcrumbs and then frying them to perfection.
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Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine Italian, Mediterranean
Servings 6 people

Equipment

  • 1 Large Skillet
  • 1 olive pitter or a knife to pit the olives
  • 1 food grinder for grinding the meat; alternatively, purchase ground pork and beef and avoid this step

Ingredients
 
 

Olives and Meat Filling

  • 11 oz large green olives pitted—see notes for specific variety
  • 19 oz beef
  • 6 oz pork
  • 3 oz Parmigiano Reggiano cheese finely grated
  • 1 whole egg
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp butter
  • white wine to deglaze the pan
  • 2 oz onion
  • 2 oz carrot
  • 2 oz celery
  • ½ whole nutmeg freshly ground
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 pinch fine salt or to taste

Breading

  • 21 oz fine breadcrumbs unseasoned
  • 3 whole eggs beaten
  • 3.5 oz flour all-purpose

Instructions
 

Prepare the Ingredients

  • Pit the olives.
  • Cut the pork and beef into large pieces.
  • Mince together the onion, carrot and celery.

Make the Filling

  • Cover the bottom of a large skillet with extra virgin olive oil. Bring the oil to medium heat, then add the minced celery, carrot and onion.
  • Sauté the vegetables until the onions are translucent. This is called a soffritto in Italian cooking.
  • Add the pieces of meat and brown it in the soffritto.
  • Then, add a splash of white wine to deglaze the pan. To finish cooking the pieces of meat, add a bit of boiling water to the skillet. The pieces of meat are ready when the liquid is almost gone and the meat is tender.
  • Use a food grinder to grind the pieces of meat together.
  • Combine the ground meat with the egg, finely ground Parmigiano cheese and the spices.

Stuff the Olives

  • Stuff the pitted olives with the meat filling.

Bread the Olives

  • Create three stations for breading: flour, beaten eggs and breadcrumbs.
  • Coat the stuffed olives first with flour, then with egg and finally with breadcrumbs.
  • Set the olives aside until it's time to fry them!

Fry the Olives

  • Fry the olives in a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil. The meat filling is already cooked, so you need to simply fry the olives until the outsides are golden brown.

Notes

Which Green Olives to Use?
The traditional recipe calls for the Ascolana Tenera variety of olives—specifically Oliva Ascolana del Piceno. These large green olives are brined, sometimes with a bit of finocchietto (wild fennel).
Alternatively, just use the largest green olives that you can find. 
Keyword meat lover
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